T)fT)I0ATION 



OF THE 



MEDFiEI.D TOWN IMIi 



K,E-T)BDIGATION 




-i^r 



/ 



7/ 




TOWN HALL, MEDFIELD, MASS. 

Dedicated Sept. lo, 1S72. 

Destroyed by Fire Jan. 8, 1874. 



PROCEEDINGS 



AT THE 



DEDICATION 



OP THE 



TOWN HALL, MEDFIELD, 



September io, 1S72: 



WITH SUPPLEMENT COMTAtNINS AN XCCO'J^T OF TItE EXERCISES AT THE RE-DED- 

TCATION, NOVEMBER. 2d, 13/4; BRIEF SKETCHES OF THE CHURCHES 

OF THE TOWN AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY ; AND A RECORD 

OF THE SOLDIERS FURNISHED BY THE TOWN 

IN THE LATE W^AR OF THE 

REBELLION. 




MEDFIELD: 
PREPARED AND PRINTED 

BY AUTHORITY OF THE TOWN. 
MDCCCLXXV. 

f.T, 



.9^ 



< 






Geokge H. Ellis, Printer, 
7 Tkemont Place, 

BOSTOX. 



CONTENTS. 

Preface ........... 

DEDICATION. 

Order of Exercises 

Public Services . ' 

Rev. C. C. Sewall's Address 

Remarks by Charles Hamant, Esq. 1 1 

Remarks by J. B. Hale, Esq. i r 

Mr. Robert R. Bishop's Address 17 

Notes Appended to Mr. Bishop's Address .... ^^ 

SUPPLEMENT. 

Order of Exercises at Re-dedication of Town Hall ... 43 

Remarks by Charles Hamant, Esq ^e 

Remarks by J. B. Hale, Esq 46 

Remarks by Rev. C. C. Sewall eg 

Mr. Robert R. Bishop's Address 51 

A Brief Sketch of the Ministrj^ in the Several Cliurches . 57 

Free Public Library 6, 

Record of Soldiers Furnished by the Town in the Late War of the 

Rebellion ......... 64 



PREFACE. 



At the Annual Town Meeting, March 3, 1873, a 
Committee was appointed to collect, revise, and print the 
several Addresses made at the Dedication of the Town 
Hall, September 10, 1872, the Committee consisting of 
J. M. R. Eaton, George H. Ellis, and George Cummings. 
Efforts were made at once to carry out the wishes of the 
town, but it was not till near the time the Hall was 
destroyed by fire that all the papers were received. After 
the fire, the Committee decided to await further instruc- 
tion from the town before giving the papers to the press. 
As the -result of this delay, we are enabled to give, in a 
Supplement, the proceedings at the Dedication of the 
second Town Hall. 

By an informal vote of the town, we also insert a brief 
sketch of the several churches, from their organization to 
the present time, together with the names of the pastors 
who have served them. 

There will also be found, at the close of this little 
volume, a record of the soldiers in the War of the Rebel- 
lion from the town of Medfield. 

At his own request, George H. Ellis has been excused 
from serving on this committee. 

J. M. R. Eaton, 
George Cummings. 



ORDER OF EXERCISES. 



The Order of Exercises at the Dedication was as 
follows : — 

MUSIC. . 

Medfield Cornet Band, Wm. R. Smith, Leader. 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

Rev. C. C. Sewall, President of the Day. 

Delivery of the Keys and Papers, by Charles Hamant, Esq., and 

Reception of the Same, by J. B. Hale, Esq., in belialf 

of the Citizens of the Town. 

DEDICATORY PRAYER. 
Rev. J. M. R. Eaton. 

SINGING. 

Medfield Choral Union, Wm. R. Smith, Conductor. 

ADDRESS. 

Robert R. Bishop, Esq., of Newton, a native of Medfield. 

MUSIC. 
REMARKS FROM OTHERS PRESENT. 



SINGING. 

An Ode written by the Rev. C. C. Sewall. 

We meditate the former days 

And mem'ries of the dead, 
While here we lift the voice of praise 

To Him, whose Spirit led 

Our fathers to this goodly place, 
Whose worth they did not know ; 

And here upheld them by his grace, 
When press'd by savage foe. 

What they endured, historic page 

Transmits with truthful care ; 
And we the goodly heritage 

In peace and safety share. 

One loyal son* — to birthplace true — 
Though dead thus speaks to-day : 
" The gift you take will oft renew 
A debt you cannot pay 

" Save, only, if your souls be fired 
With gen'rous, manly zeal 
To consecrate — all I desired — 
Its use to public weal. 

" A bond of union let it be, 

Winning all hearts to peace ; 
From all dissensions keep you free, 
And your best strength increase. 

" So, while the years shall onward roll. 
Peace be the spirit here ; 
The fix'd resolve of ev'ry soul 
To make that peace more dear. 

" The heritage you now possess. 
Far richer, then, will be ; 
Your homes the smile of God will bless ; 
Your hearts from jDains be free." 

BENEDICTION. 

Rev. James M. Wiggin. 

♦George. W. Choucry, donor of thi- Hall. Died June 20, 1866. 



PUBLIC SERVICES. 

At half-past one o'clock in the afternoon, Sept. lo, 
1872, the Hall was filled with citizens and invited guests 
from abroad. After music by the Medfield Cornet Band, 
Mr. Isaac Fiske, in behalf of the Trustees, introduced 
Rev. C. C. Sewall as President of the day. 

ADDRESS OF REV. CHARLES C. SEWALL. 

Felloiv Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen : — 

I congratulate you upon the occurring of this much desired 
and long deferred occasion. I congratulate you that we are as- 
sembled to receive, and by formal act take possession of, this 
costly and beautiful structure — the noble and generous legacy of 
a native of this place. He was cut down, as you know, by in- 
sidious and fatal disease, in the midst of an active, useful and 
honorable manhood, while yet the enjoyments, promises, and 
hopes of life were fresh and full in his possession ; but with a 
noble sentiment of loyalty to the place of his birth and home, 
and a strong desire for its embellishment and prosperity, he be- 
queathed a large part of liis estate to three confidential friends, 
in trust, to be by them appropriated and expended, according to 
his wishes, for the erection of this building ; thus leaving a me- 
morial of himself, which it should be our pride to guard with 



lO 



sacred care, and an example which it should be the ambition of 
all, especially of our young men, to imitate, by a watchful regard 
for the public welfare, and by zealous endeavors to promote it. 

Having finished their work in discharge of the solemn trust 
confided to them, the trustees are now about to surrender the 
noble gift of our benefactor into the keeping of the citizens of 
Medfield, and we are here to dedicate it, by appropriate services, 
to the only use and purpose for which it was designed. 

Permit me, then, in the place which I occupy at your request, 
to say, very briefly, that the occasion demands of us the grateful 
recognition and acknowledgment of the magnitude and worth of 
the gift we are about to receive, and of the noble sentiment which 
prompted it ; the recognition and acknowledgment, also, of the 
fidelity with which the trust committed by our benefactor to his 
friends has been fulfilled, and the work of their agents, the archi- 
tects of the building, performed. And that all this is to be 
supplemented by our solemn dedication of the building to its only 
proper and intended purpose ; to the better accommodation of the 
citizens of this place in discharge of their municipal obligations 
and duties ; to the calm, conscientious, and careful consideration 
of whatever events may occur or propositions be offered, affect- 
ing the best interests of the town ; to the delivery of useful, 
instructive, literary, and scientific lectures ; to the culture and 
practice of the beautiful art of music ; to whatever shall best 
tend to promote the intellectual and moral growth, and the 
rational enjoyment and recreation of the people; — excluding, ab- 
solutely and forever, whatever shall plainly have tendency to foster 
habits of thoughtless levity, of useless or injurious expenditure of 
time and money, or of bold irreverence for those p>rinciples and 
institutions upon the permanence of which must ever depend the 
peace and safety, the morals and happiness of the community. 



II 



Let the voice of fierce and angry contention, of political or per- 
sonal crimination and recrimination, never be heard within these 
walls. Let them never be desecrated by any base pandering to 
vicious tastes and desires ; by derision or denial of the origin and 
authority of our holy religion, or by any irreverent allusion to 
those truths, principles, and practices, the observance of which is, 
and must ever be, of vital importance to the character and the 
happiness of all classes of the community, and especially to the 
safety of the susceptible and forming minds of the young 
amongst us. 

Consecrated to high and worthy ends, let them stand a sacred 
memorial of the noble qualities of that heart which caused them 
to be erected. Let them stand a perpetual monument of the 
high intellectual, moral, and religious character of the citizens of 
Medfield. 

The keys and papers were then delivered by Charles 
Hamant, Esq., with the following remarks. 

REMARKS BY CHARLES HAMANT, ESQ. 

On the 25th day of June, 1866, I was summoned to the res- 
idence of one whom I had known from his earliest infancy, who 
was then prostrated and sinking with a relentless disease, which 
the united skill of eminent medical advisers vainly attempted to 
arrest. 

I shall never forget entering that cjuiet sick chamber, where 
naught was heard save the labored breathing of one who was so 
soon to pass away ; anxiously and tenderly attended by her, the 
nearest and most dear of earthly friends, watching over him with 
the purest and most devoted womanly affection. 

There, in that quiet apartment, with a mind clear and unim- 
paired, in a feeble voice — comprehending all that he desired to 
have accomplished, — he dictated the instrument by virtue of 



12 



which the town of Medfield this day comes into the possession 
of this commodious and beautiful edifice. 

This act was but the cuhnination of tlioughts which he had 
cherished, and oftentimes expressed to his friends and fellow- 
townsmen, when he was in health and in the active duties of life. 
He survived the solemn act of executing this instrument but 
three days. On the 28th day of June his spirit passed on to 
that " house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." His 
memory will be cherished and honored by this and succeeding 
generations. 

Since the commencement of this structure, others, too, whom 
we would not forget, have gone to the " house of many man- 
sions," who felt a lively interest in the progress of this work. 
It is fitting and appropriate that we should pause for a moment 
to remember them. 

The first was that gray-haired and venerable man of more than 
three score and ten years,* and whose excellences of character 
are in pleasant remembrance by all who knew him. Amid the 
closing scenes of his earthly pilgrimage, and but a few days prior 
to his decease, he expressed a wish that his life might be spared, 
so that he might see the completion of this building. 

In quick succession he was followed by one f faithfully and 
honorably occupying official positions in the town, and in the 
very midst of his usefulness. He, too, while his strength was 
spared, prompted by feelings of lively interest, was accustomed 
almost daily to visit this spot to witness the progress of the 
building of the strong foundations. " Many hearts mourn his 
loss." 

And we would also solemnly remember the sudden and start- 
ling death of that father J of the donor of this building, which 

♦Jacob Marshall. t Ilt'my J. l'>e;elt. J Waneu Chouury. 



13 

took place in the following autumn. He lived to see the com- 
pletion of the external part of the house, and obeyed the sum- 
mons to depart — the last member of his family. He has gone 
to join " the dead found faithful to the end." 

There are others of whom we think to-day, and of whom we 
would kindly speak, but want of time forbids. 

The Board of Trustees would feel that the exercises of the 
hour would be incomplete, did we not gratefully recollect the true, 
womanly affection that prompted the widow of our benefactor to 
abide by, and accept of, the testamentary provisions made for 
her, rather than waiving them, and by so doing receiving a much 
larger pecuniary consideration. We are most happy to bear tes- 
timony to the honorable and lady-like disposition which she has 
exhibited to us in all our business relations with her. 

I will now very briefly pass to a sketch of our doings since 
we determined upon the question as to the time of building. 

It may not be known to all that, by the conditions of the 
will, this was left somewhat discretionary with the Board of 
Trustees, one condition depending vitally upon the expressed 
wish and authority of the town, and to be determined by their 
votes at a meeting legally held for that purpose. And here let 
me say that all our proceedings have been guided by a desire to 
promote the best interests of the town, as they were so soon 
to come into possession. We, however, felt sacredly bound to 
respect the verbally expressed wishes of the testator, made to 
one of the Board at the time the trust was created ; namely, 
that it should be, in its exterior and interior arrangements and 
form, pleasing and attractive to the eye of persons of cultivated 
tastes and possessing knowledge of rules of architecture. For- 
tunately for two of the Board, the one selected from a neighbor- 
ing town * possessed in an eminent degree the qualifications 

*Hou. E. P. Carpenter, of Foxboro. 



14 

necessary to direct in the initiatory proceedings; and we beg 
leave here and now, for ourselves and in behalf of our citizens, 
gratefully to thank him for the valuable services he has rendered 
without money or price. 

In regard to the location of the house the Trustees had no will 
or wish particularly their own to gratify, but brought the question 
before a very full meeting of our legal voters ; and their enthusi- 
astic and unanimous verdict was in favor of the present site. The 
bond required by the will was unanimously authorized by a large 
vote, and nothing remained on the part of the town to be accom- 
plished ; and there seemed to be a pressing desire and increasing 
interest that the work of building should immediately be com- 
menced. Accordingly three distinguished artists were found 
who were willing to compete, upon the terms proposed, and three 
separate plans, all having merits worthy of consideration, were 
furnished, one of which, after mature deliberation, was accepted 
by the Board. An unforeseen difficulty now arose. No con- 
tractor could be found who was willing to undertake the work 
for the means we had in our hands — a dilemma for wliich we 
had not provided. But generously and unsolicited by us our 
friends brought the subject before the town, and an appropriation 
was unanimously made, covering expenses already incurred in the 
purchase and grading of the land, leaving the trust fund to be 
used wholly in the erection and furnishing of the house : a desire 
expressed by the donor when making the bequest, and the work 
has been accomplished substantially in accordance with the 
original designs. 

The contractors, honorable men of means and ability, it is 
believed, have faithfully and substantially performed the work, 
and we trust with no pecuniary loss to themselves. We feel that 
great credit is due also to the architects, Messrs. HartwcU & 
Swasey, for the beautiful mock-l furnislied, the pleasing and 



15 

attractive picture which it presents to us and to the passino- 
stranger. Other thoughts crowd upon our mind, but I have 
already occupied more time than I should. 

" 'Twere vain attempt to speak the worth 
Of benefaction such as this; 
Our hope shall be that it give birth 
To noblest impulse, and with bliss 
Be crowned, surpassing all reward 
Which worldly honor, rank and fame, 
With hoarded wealth, can e'er afford 
To him who nothing more can claim." 

Mr. Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, — This building 
having now been completed to the acceptance of the Board of 
Trustees, whom I have the honor to represent, in their behalf I 
now present you these keys, and in accordance with the provis- 
ions of the will, this deed of conveyance by virtue of which this 
beautiful estate passes from the custody of the Trustees, and 
vests the title in the inhabitants of Medfield. I also present you 
with policies of insurance upon the building. Thus is consum- 
mated the expressed wishes and directions of the testator, and 
may it be a lasting benefit to this and succeeding generations. 

J. B. Hale, Esq., in behalf of the citizens of the 
town, received the keys and papers, with the following 
remarks. 

REMARKS BY J. B. HALE, ESQ. 

3f7'. CJiairinan, and Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees: — 

The reception in behalf of the town of this noble building 
is one of the most acceptable official duties I have been called 
upon to perform. I do not forget that it is the position I happen 
to occupy at this time, more than my own merit, that brings me 
before you to-day. 

It seems almost like a dream that, after using the "Meeting- 



i6 



House" for more than two centuries for town purposes, and in 
later years rooms not adapted to, or convenient for, the wants 
of the town, we are the recipients of this beautiful Hall without 
the asking, and with very little effort on our part; and it marks 
an important era in our history, that a citizen born and reared 
in our midst, one whose ancestors have dwelt here for four 
generations, and are mentioned with honor in our public records 
of Revolutionary times, should find his duty and inclination 
in devoting so large a portion of the fruits of his labors for the 
public good. May posterity honor his memory, and others 
follow his example ! 

I would that I were capable of doing justice to this occasion, 
but language fails me. A few words to yourself and your 
associates. 

You have been pleased from the first to show me the plans 
offered, and to express your feelings and desires very fully in 
executing the trust confided to your hands; and it gives me 
pleasure to-day to testify to your unwearied zeal and earnestness 
that nothing should be overlooked that could add to, or enhance 
the value of, this noble benefaction. I congratulate you in your 
choice of architects, — gentlemen who have shown eminent 
qualifications for their profession, who have carried out yo?ir 
intention to provide, in accordance with the desire of the gen- 
erous donor, a building that should be substantial, that should 
be useful for the present and prospective wants of the town, 
and whose proportions should be a pleasure to the eye and an 
ornament to our village. In all these particulars, a;id more, 
you have been eminently successful, and have the proud satis- 
faction of a solemn trust well performed. 

The dedicatory prayer was then offered by Rev. J. M. 
R. Eaton ; and after .singing by the Medfield Choral U nion, 



17 

the following address was delivered by Robert R. Bishop, 
Esq., of Newton. 

ADDRESS OF ROBERT R. BISHOP, ESQ. 

I ACCEPT with grateful pleasure the task of speaking to-day ; 
for which of her children can come back again to a town having 
the history and the memories of this town, — can come back on 
a festival day, — with other emotions than those of joy and love ? 
We come, the sons and the daughters of Medfield, to devote to 
its uses in a formal manner this building, the gift of a son of 
Medfield. We come up to the old street, we come under the 
shadow of the old trees, but into this new hall which his munifi- 
cence has provided for future generations. If you were to visit 
Medfield coming from Newton or Needham, and should cross the 
high land near Mr. Franklin Shumway's house, or coming from 
Sherburne should pass over the hill by Mr. Charles Howe's, or 
if you came from Walpole across that beautiful plain, near which 
sixty years ago lived the beloved physician of Medfield, Dr. Elias 
Mann, whose house, to his credit be it said, the present owner 
preserves in all its fine old form, — from either of these spots, 
looking toward this place, you would see to-day, and you would 
have seen for years, a picture, I venture to say, unsurpassed in 
its kind. Seated here in the midst of its embowering trees, 
every line proportionate, every figure harmonious, this place 
realizes Goldsmith's line, 

" Loveliest village of the plain." 

But I have been struck during the past summer — have you 
not.-* — to see how that picture is rounded out, and filled, and 
made complete by the outline and the form of this building ap- 
pearing in the midst. As you look, it seems natural, and yet it 
is new ; it seems familiar, and yet you have never seen it before ; 



and you cannot tell whether by its proportion, its comeliness, and 
its fitness to the place, it adorns the spot more, or whether the 
ancient trees, and the surrounding buildings, and the spot adorn 
the building more. And let me congratulate you, friends, at the 
outset, upon what, possibly, is the chief characteristic of this new 
building ; namely, that it is fitted to this old town. I have not 
forgotten that a new broom breaks the handles of all the old 
ones, nor the sad story of the man who, persuaded by his daugh- 
ter, bought a pair of new brass andirons ; how the brightness of 
the andirons put to shame the dullness of the old shovel and 
tongs, so that a new pair of shovel and tongs had to be bought ; 
then the brightness of the new- shovel and tongs was a great dis- 
comfort to the old table and chairs, until a new table and chairs 
were obtained ; and they, in turn, distressed the carpet, and that 
had to go and a new one take its place ; and so on until the man 
was ruined. But the principle to be derived from such examples 
rightly apprehended does not apply to this case. If you intro- 
duce something that is new into the midst of that which is old, 
it does destroy the harmony of it, it does disarrange the symmetry 
of it, it does spoil the arrangement of it, if it is not fitted for it ; 
but it adds a beauty to it, it discloses a charm which you did not 
suppose existed, it develops a perfection which was not dreamed 
of before, if it is fitted to it. And just here, in my opinion, — 
pardon pre for saying it, — is where the skill of an architect, if he 
has skill, and the good sense of a building committee, if they 
have good sense, come into play. It is not by the extravagant 
expenditure of money, it is not by building the largest house, or the 
most elegant house, that an architect shows his skill, or a building 
committee their wisdom ; but it is by building a house fitted to its 
purposes, and to its place. I care not whether the house was built 
two hundred years ago, or built to-day, whether it is large or small, 
whether it is elegant or economical, — show me a house which is 



19 

fitted to the uses to which it is to be put, and to the spot on which 
it stands, and I will show you a house built in good taste, and with 
good sense. Try this house by that standard. Consider the prob- 
lem the Trustees were to solve ; the germ of it, the substance of 
it, is contained in apt language in the will of the donor, when he re- 
quires the Trustees to erect a building, such for " materials, form, 
and beauty of finish," as a judicious expenditure of the bequest 
would admit. Beauty of finish ! that is one requirement. Who 
are they who dislike beauty .'' Where is he who is not better for 
the beauty of flowers ? Where is he who is not happier for the 
beauty there is in the faces of little children .-' The difficulty is 
to determine what is beauty, for it consists as much in the ab- 
sence of those things which offend the taste, as in the presence 
of those which gratify it. It consists in the chasteness and 
rigidity of exclusion as much as in the amplitude of admission. 
But surely those things which are beautiful only are of no ser- 
vice, and therefore should be discarded ; and he who says that will 
point us to a score of things about this building which should 
have been omitted because they are beautiful only. And I think 
if he were to come up from the North End, and round the corner, 
and take a full view of this building, the first thing he would put 
in his catalogue would be the graceful and airy railing which runs 
along the ridge-pole and mounts the turret. That, surely, is of 
no service. It is graceful, it is beautiful, it makes you better for 
looking at it ; but it is of no service, and therefore it should have 
been omitted ; of no more service, friend, than the two buttons 
on the back of your coat, and therefore should have been omitted. 
A little girl who was born and had spent all her childhood in 
India, was sent at the proper time to her aunt, in New England, 
to be educated. On the morning after her arrival her aunt 
dressed her in a new gown made purposely of very plain stuff, 
because she knew the little girl had not been accustomed to 



20 



finery, and the only ornaments there were on the dress were two 
simple bows, one at the elbow and the other at the shoulder. 
The little girl came down to breakfast, and, after " Good morn- 
ing," looking at the bows with a pleased but puzzled expression 
said, " Auntie, I am glad you put these bows upon my dress, they 
are so comfortable and convenient." She had not the vocabu- 
lary of fashion, but she knew that they made her comfortable and 
happy. She instinctively knew that, like all proper adornment 
they marked the difference between civilized enjoyments and 
barbarous pleasures. 

The other requirement is as to form and materials : and what 
should these be but of the most permanent and enduring charac- 
ter, — for this building is not built for a day, but for your children 
and their children's children. A house, like matrimony, like wed- 
lock, should endure. And how much thought there was in the 
language of him who said : " This has been a good house to live 
in ; it shall be a good house to die in." And if that is true, 
friends, of your house and of mine, how much truer is it of the 
house of the town, built, and to stand, in memorial of her son. 
Looking, then, friends, into the future, thinking of the days 
which shall be when we are not, shall we not pronounce this a 
work well done, and done forever .'' 

And thinking of the future, we come naturally to think of 
the past, of that long succession of years, that long procession of 
events, which have transpired since Medfield became a town. 
Medfield became a town in 1650.^ Think how long ago that was ! 
Then Oliver Cromwell was at the head of the State in England, 
and John Milton was his secretary. King Charles the First had 
been beheaded about one year, and Hampden had been dead 
about seven years. In the province of Massachusetts there 
were, 1 believe, about forty tovvns.^ The spirit of intolerance 

1. For this and .succeeding references, see Notes ai)i)ended. 



21 



and oppression against the Quakers and other heretics was rising 
to its full height. The next year John Clarke preached to a 
handful of Baptists at Lynn, and he was publicly tried by a court, 
and sentenced to pay a fine, and one of his associates publicly 
wdiipped ; and the law previously passed, perhaps designed orig- 
inally to prevent such civil disorders as had prevailed in Europe, 
was set in force with intent to banish forever all Baptists from 
the soil of Massachusetts.^ In the^'same year a law was passed 
prohibiting gentlemen from wearing top-boots, and gold and silver 
lace, and prohibiting ladies from wearing, among other things, 
Tiffany hoods, and requiring that the selectmen should see to 
the fulfillment of these requirements.^ If, as I suspect, Tiffany 
hoods bore some relation to modern bonnets, I have no doubt the 
selectmen had an agreeable duty in enforcing the part of the law 
which applied to them. In the same year a war of conquest on 
the part of the United Colonies of New England, for the subju- 
gation and annexation of New York, was prevented by the sober 
common sense of Massachusetts. 

Among the towns most remarkable, in some respects, of that 
colony was the town of — Contentment. Yes, that was the name ; 
for when the first settlers of Dedham had built their houses, and 
marked out their lots, they petitioned the General Court to be 
incorporated as a town under the name of Contentment, because 
they said they. had observed the strifes which were prevalent in 
the other towns of the province, and had observed how good men 
could dip their hands in each other's blood for the sake of relig- 
ious opinions ; therefore, they, being peaceably disposed, of one 
mind and heart, inclined to live together in unity and the fear of 
God, prayed to be incorporated as a town, and that their senti- 
ments might be embodied in its name. But the General Court 
thought otherwise, and incorporated the town under the name of 
Dedham. This was in 1635. Shortly afterward many of the 



22 



inhabitants, allured by the fertility of the soil, the beauty of this 
spreading plain, and the luxuriance of the meadows, came to 
what is now Medfield, and settled what was then called Mead- 
field and Bogastow, and in the years 1650 and 1651 this was 
established as a distinct town, the first offshoot from Dedham.^ 

In the year 165 1, John Eliot undertook to form his settle- 
ment of Indians at South Natick. He built three long streets 
on the banks of the Charles' River, and drew the Indians into 
habitations, and clothed them with raiment, and put over them 
the laws which Jethro recommended to Moses, — one ruler for a 
hundred, two rulers for fifties, ten rulers for tens. Dedham com- 
plained of being deprived of that territory, and accordingly 
commissioners were appointed to go out and inspect, and provide 
other land for Dedham in the place of that taken at South Natick 
for the Indians. The commissioners went to Ashburnham and 
the district comprising what are now the other towns on the 
border of Massachusetts near the southern line of New Hamp- 
shire. If you should take the Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad and 
go to that vicinity, even if you should go no further than Fitch- 
burg, and look out upon the Rollstone Hill, which is opposite, I 
think you would make the same report which the commissioners 
made when they came back ; they said that it seemed to be the 
backbone of the province, and they did not think it was fit for 
agricultural purposes. 

Meanwhile reports of the g^-eat fertility of the Connecticut 
Valley had come to the East, and other commissioners were ap- 
pointed who went to what is now the beautiful town of Deerfield. 
There they saw such intervales as they had never seen before, 
and looked upon such meadows as were nowhere else in the 
province except on the banks of the Connecticut River ; and like 
the m3ssengers of old, they came back and brought a favorable 
report ; and so it was that the eight thousand acres of land given 



by the General Court to Dedham, in place of the land at South 
Natick which had been taken away, was located at Deerfield, 
Thereafterwards, Deerfield, Dedham, and Medfield have much 
that is common in their history. The names which you will find 
upon the records of one town are found upon the records of the 
others ; father and mother in one, son and daughter in the others. 
Eleazer Lusher,*" who was appointed to divide the lands in Na- 
tick for the Indians, was the first town clerk of Medfield; yet he 
never lived in Medfield himself, but retained his residence in 
Dedham. Robert Hinsdale lived in Dedham, then came to 
Medfield, then went to Deerfield, and with his three sons was 
slain at Bloody Brook on that beautiful September morning as 
they were carrying the grain to Hadley.' And the names of 
Frary and other names are common upon all the records. 

Deerfield and Medfield were both subjected to the fire and 
blood of Indian war. I suppose the best account of the sacking 
and burning of Medfield is the contemporary one written by 
Hubbard, minister of Ipswich, two years after the event took 
place.^ He says it is indeed a surprising thing that Medfield 
should have been burned at all, because warned by the loss of 
Lancaster, Medfield, together with some other towns, had pro- 
vided itself with garrison-soldiers, and there were plenty of 
soldiers in the town. But the garrison troops were billeted up 
and down the town, and could not be readily gathered together. 
And he says, what I expect is not even now an uncommon fact,, 
the farmers of Medfield had taken up more land than they could 
well take care of, and so bushes and trees had grown up from the 
stumps, and thereby the Indians were better enabled to secrete 
themselves over night under the bushes and trees, and near the 
fences and barns, and so to spring upon the town at the break 
of day. He records that the first house burned was that of 
Samuel Morse, at the east part of the town, undoubtedly a house 



standing upon the Morse estate, which has remained in the 
family ever since. This, he says, was the signal for the universal 
firing, and the shooting of the inhabitants as they ran out of 
doors. A father and one child would run in one direction, 
and the mother and another child in the other ; one was saved 
and the other perished. He relates how an old man nearly 
one hundred years old was burned in his dwelling, — John Fussell. 
He says the lieutenant of the town, Henry Adams, who came 
from Braintree, and who was a lineal ancestor of Mr. John Wick- 
liffe Adams, was shot in his door-way," and his wife perished soon 
afterward by the accidental discharge of a musket in the house. 
Seventeen or eighteen people were slain, or mortally wounded, 
and ^2,000 worth of property destroyed. Finally the Indians 
were driven over the bridge into Medway by the firing of canon. 
But he records the mercy of Providence which spared the two 
garrison-houses, and the better part, as he says, of the dwellings.''* 

Deerfield was likewise sacked in the French and Indian war 
thirty years later. Nor is Deerfield the only town at the western 
part of the State which has intimate associations with Medfield. 
Sturbridge was some fifty years later settled by an immigration 
from Medfield; and the tales of family visits there — brothers, 
cousins, and friends making the journey on horseback — are in 
our memory still.'' 

In the Revolutionary War, and in the stormy and critical 
period which preceded it, when the minds of men were forming, 
Medfield took no inconsiderable part. It has been said that the 
town-meetings of Boston for the ten years preceding the battle 
of Lexington, tried by the consequences of their language and 
deeds, were among the most important public assemblages men- 
tioned in history. The other towns of the Colony must share in 
this encomium also; and to none, I believe, is it more applicable 
than to ours. No one, I think, can examine the records of the 



25 

town (fortunately preserved from the beginning), and go over the 
period from 1765 to the close of the war, without being deeply 
impressed with the character of the men who stood in this place, 
our fathers, and took upon themselves their full share of the 
great responsibility. They took for their watchword the motto 
appended in 1765 to the instructions given to Samuel Clark, their 
representive in the General Court, "Honor the king, but save the 
Country," and kept it throughout the contest. These instruc- 
tions, full of patriotic ardor, were ordered in town-meeting to be 
inscribed at length upon the records " as a memorial to ages yet 
unborn, of the present generation's high sense of our natural 
and chartered rights and privileges." They held, I was going 
to say, an almost continual town-meeting, adjourning from month 
to month, or week to week, as occasion required. They sent 
the French neutrals to Canada, and provided them money to go 
with, on condition that they should never return. Under a 
sense of their " duty to the times " they restricted the use of 
what we should deem the necessities of life, but what they 
termed its luxuries. A long list of the articles prohibited you 
will find upon your records. They chose a committee of safety, 
and a committee of correspondence with the town of Boston, 
and their reply to the famous letter of Boston, — which I hope 
before this occasion closes will be read in your hearing, spread 
at length upon the records, — is unsurpassed in the language 
which was uttered by any town at that eventful time. One 
hundred and fifty-three names, — all the heads of families or 
freeholders, — appear upon your records appended to the articles 
of association recommended by the Continental Congress at 
Philadelphia, whereby the Colonies practically sever their con- 
nection with the mother country. It is to be noted also with 
grateful pride that, in the same voice and votes in which they 
assert their own rights, they maintain those of all men, and con- 

4 



26 



demn slavery. They say that it appears absurd to plead for 
liberty and yet patronize the most cruel servitude and bondage ; 
and yet the " poor Africans taken from all that is dear to them on 
their native soil, have not the least shadow of liberty remaining." 
" We wish," they say, " to maintain constitutional liberty our- 
selves, and cannot endure *the thought of its being withheld from 
the same flesh and blood for no other reason that we can conceive 
of but because the God of nature has been pleased to tinge their 
skins with a different color from our own." Thus early did the 
principles of anti-slavery take root in this town.'- 

Who were the actors in that scene .-* We only know by the 
records and by tradition. The names of Daniel Perry, William 
Plimpton, Moses Bullen, Eliakim Morse, Henry Adams, Nathan 
Plimpton, Oliver Ellice, Seth Dwight, Eleazer White, Seth 
Clark and Nathan Coolidge appear constantly. And the soldiers 
who sustained the cause upon the battle-field, — the young men 
who left the plow in the furrow, and went forth, and came not 
back again, — how little do we know of them ! *'' 

The history of a town can best be understood by considering 
the lives of the most prominent actors in it. In an enumeration 
of the citizens of Medfield who have left their impress upon 
their generation, the first to be mentioned is Ralph Wheelock, 
the first subscriber for removing from Dedham to Medfield, and 
styled the founder of the town. He was a native of Shropshire, 
England, was educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, became a 
dissenting clergyman, and was called an emininent preacher. 
He came first to Watertown, and then removed to Dedham, 
where he was an unsuccessful candidate for minister at the time 
Mr. Allin was chosen. He remained in Dedham, performing 
many public duties, until the founding of this town, and then 
removed here. He was the magistrate of the place, was deputy 
for Medfield in the General Court of Elections at more sessions 



27 

than any other person, and was the person commissioned by 
the General Court to perform the marriage service within the 
bounds of Medfield and Mendon/^ as he had previously been for 
Dedham. He was a man of mark and prominence in the Colony, 
and from him descended Eleazer Wheelock, the Indian Mis- 
sionary, and founder of Dartmouth College.^'' 

Of the clergymen of the town there never should be forgotten 
four : — John Wilson, the first minister of this town, who graduated 
in the first class at Harvard College, who preached here forty 
years, and was the son of the Rev. John Wilson, who came 
from England, and was the first minister of Boston. Joseph 
Baxter, his successor, who likewise preached here forty years, 
but whom the town came very near losing that he might become 
a missionary among the Indians. When Governor Shute, the 
Governor of the Colony, undertook a voyage and journey to 
visit the Indians in Maine, that he might learn their habits, and 
form a treaty with them, he invited Mr. Baxter, who was a man 
" full of promise," to accompany him, with a view that he should 
remain as a missionary. On the same voyage, undertaken in a 
shallop, the Governor invited also the Chief-Justice of the Col- 
ony to accompany him, — Chief-Justice Samuel Sewall, a lineal 
ancestor of him who honors us with his presence to preside 
to-day. While in Maine Mr. Baxter had some correspondence 
with Ralle, the French Jesuit, who had spent all his life as a 
missionary among the Indians ; and when Ralle complained that 
the Latin, — the language in which the correspondence was 
conducted, — of Mr. Baxter's letters was bad. Governor Shute 
replied that the chief requirement of a missionary among the 
Indians was not an exact knowledge of the Latin tongue, but 
that he possess the ability to bring them from nature's darkness 
into Christ's marvellous light. Thomas Prentiss, who preached 
here forty-four years, whom some of you surely remember, that 



28 



most dignified and earnest man, whose force of character was 
great, who was a man of the utmost Ubsrality of mind and of the 
greatest consistency of life. Dr. Daniel C. Saunders, who left 
the presidency of a university to become a minister in Medfield. 
He was an exact scholar, and, as we remember him, a stately 
gentleman. 

But of all the names of those who have been identified with 
Medfield, two are pre-eminent ; two there are who have gone 
out from among us, who have reflected imperishable honor upon 
the spot of their birth. Theirs was no common course ; they 
pursued no beaten track ; they struck out a course for them- 
selves, and in the departments in which they severally labored 
they produced a new era' in history. Hannah Adams was the 
first American lady who devoted her life to literature ; indeed, 
she was the first American lady » who attempted to enter the 
field of literature ; and we can never realize the debt of obligation 
which we and all posterity owe to her, because we can never 
understand the poverty and barrenness of the literature of her 
time. Take, for instance, one out of many of her works, her his- 
tory of New England, — an excellent book, afterwards used as a 
text-book in the Boston schools, and, I believe, in Hai-vard Col- 
lege. How many histories of New England do you suppose 
there were at the time she began to write that book .'' Only two. 
No, not two ; only two books which could pretend to be histories, 
or which contained in any connected form any considerable his- 
torical account of New England ; and one of them was Cotton 
Mather's " Magnalia," written one hundred years before, — 
which I am afraid my ecclesiastical friends will tell me had 
better never have been written at all, — and the other was 
about as bad. She was a pioneer ; she struck out a course for 
herself ; she drew her materials from original sources, and she 
accjuired a national reputation. She took the place in America 



29 

which Hannah More held in England. Tell it, therefore, 
elsewhere if you will, but tell it not in the birthplace of Hannah 
Adams, that a woman cannot serve her country, or bless her 
age, and that she is not entitled to the education of a man. 

And if you ask me for the other name, what child of Med- 
field, what son, is known throughout the land, across the water, 
over the continents beyond, in the Sandwich Islands, in India 
and in China, I ask you to tell me where the tunes of Hebron, 
and the Missionary Hymn, and Mount Vernon, and Hamburg, 
are sung, and who first set their lines to measure .-' He went to 
school with some of you ; he began life as a trader in Georgia ; 
but music was in his soul, the impulse was irresistible, and to- 
day the name of Lowell Mason is known and loved, and his 
recent death lamented, wherever throughout the world the 
praises of God ascend in song. 

I should be glad to speak of others. Coming down to a 
time within our own recollection, I should be glad to speak of 
Daniel Adams, and Dr. Hewins. I should be glad to speak of 
that brilliant young man cut off in his prime. Lieutenant Derby. 
I should be glad to try and draw a picture, if I thought there 
was any chance of success, of Charles Onion. And I should 
rejoice to speak of some of the living, of Dr. Allen, of North- 
boro, who went out from us a youth, — but who returns to be with 
us to-day, his head hoary with years, and himself ripe with 
honors from his adopted town. I should not fail to speak of 
the debt which the town owes, and especially the young people 
who have been through the schools of the town owe, to you, 
sir,* for wise counsel, for timely admonition, and for a steadfast 
adherence to the best and highest interests of the young. 

But the occasion reminds me that in what remains to be 

* Rev. Mr. Sew;ill, ricsident of the day. 
5 



30 

said I should speak chiefly of him by reason of whose bounty to 
the town we are assembled together. 

George Warren Chenery was born in Medfield. He was the 
son of Mr. Warren Chenery, an upright, sturdy, excellent man, 
who by a life of foresight and industry had accumulated a con- 
siderable fortune. After passing through the schools of this 
town Mr. Chenery began life as clerk in the employ of Mr. Fiske, 
and afterwards went into business with his father. He was not 
a man who was liked by everybody, but, what is far better, he 
was a man whose qualities entitled him to the respect of every- 
body. He had himself strong likes and dislikes, and it must be 
that such a man will offend some; but nobody ever doubted the 
honesty or the purity of his purposes, or the trueness of his 
heart. He did not pin his faith, or his opinions, or his course in 
life, to the course, or opinions, or faith, of anybody else. He 
was truly independent ; yet along with this independence there 
was a degree of refinement and sensibility about him which marked 
him as a gentleman. And then there was a generous desire 
which he possessed to make the most of himself, and to do his 
best. He might have done — nothing. From childhood he was 
of slender constitution, and he was afflicted during most of his 
life by that terrible malady, the asthma ; and he might well have 
sought excuse from the trusts and activities of life, if anybody 
may. With his father's ample fortune to fall back upon, it would 
have been easy for him to lead a listless life. He might have 
been a spectator of the great drama of life, instead of a partici- 
pant in it. If he had chosen, he might have shirked the 
responsibilities of life. But, friends, if he had, we should not 
have been assembled to do him honor. I have said that he chose 
the best things. By travel, by books, by observation, and by 
study, he cultivated his mind, and who shall not say cultivated 



31 

his heart also. But he sought the best things for others as well 
as for himself, and one of the constant subjects of his interest 
was the town in which he was born, and in which he dwelt ; and 
he often remarked upon what in various particulars and in dif- 
ferent respects would benefit or improve the town, or add to it ; 
and often regretted the absence in the town of any building suit- 
able for public purposes. And thus it came to pass that on his 
death-bed he left the bequest which reared this edifice. Let its 
walls forever stand as a memorial of a young man who in life was 
true to his trusts, and did his best. He was cut off in the midst 
of his years ; he died at the age of less than forty years ; yet who 
shall say that he did not accomplish much ? Who shall say that 
such a life as his was not worth living ? Nay, shall we not all 
unite in saying in reference to him, " That life is long which 
answers well life's end" .'* 

But our duty would not be performed if we failed to remem- 
ber our obligation at this time to another, his wife, — and now his 
widow. It is sufficient to say that, while she might have em- 
barrassed the Trustees in the discharge of their duties, while she 
might have retarded the erection of this building, while she 
might have placed obstacles in the way ; she removed all obstacles, 
she hastened the erection of the building by relinquishing that 
which she had a right to claim, and from first to last she co-oper- 
ated with the Trustees in the discharge of their duties, and 
assisted them with cheerful help to the end. And when we 
remember, friends, the controversies which are now going on in 
two adjoining towns in regard to bequests of a public nature, and 
the way in which selfish men usually act, and behold the way in 
which this noble woman who stood by his side in life stood by his 
bequest in death, may we not take from fiction its address to one 



32 

of the most beautiful of its characters, and apply it to you, 
madam ? * 

" Lady, lady, if there were more like you, there were fewer like us." 

We dedicate this hall to-day. By all the emotions which 
swell the heart, or rise to the lips, let us dedicate ourselves, also, 
to a life of high purposes and noble endeavor. The life and ex- 
ample of him whom we chiefly commemorate to-day thus appeals 
especially to the young men of Medfield. We may scatter, and 
our avocations are to be perhaps as diverse as the places of our 
abode; some will remain upon the old homestead and be carried 
at last to the old grave-yard ; some may die in San Francisco or 
Japan, and be buried by unknown hands; some may be wealthy, 
others may bear through life the cords of poverty ; some will be 
successful, many will be disappointed ; but whatever our avoca- 
tions in life may be, or wherever our lot upon earth may be cast, 
let us fill up the measure of life with good works, animated by a 
right heart, so that at the end it may be said of us, " He, too, did 
not live in vain." 

At the close of the Address the following gentlemen 
responded briefly to appropriate sentiments given by the 
presiding ofBcer: M. M. Fisher, Esq., of Medway; Geo. 
Allen, Esq., of West Newton; James Hewins, Esq., of 
Medfield; W. H. Baldwin, of Boston; Chas. P. Clark, 
of Newton; and Rev. J. H. Wiggin, of Medfield. 

After singing the Original Ode, the Benediction was 
pronounced by Rev. Mr. Wiggin. 

* Mrs. Chenerv. 



NOTES 

APPENDED TO THE ADDRESS BY R. R. BISHOP, ESQ. 

1. Strictly 165 1. It was a "villadge" belonging to Dedham until 
the act entitled " Meadfeild's Power." — Vid. Note j. In the succeed- 
ing year (1652), Medfield was first represented by deputy in the General 
Court of Election. 

2. Not so many distinct towns entitled to representation. In the 
list of towns sending deputies to the General Court of Election in 1652 
and subsequently, Medfield stands the twenty-eighth. 

3. This act was passed in 1644. — 2 Mass. Col. Rec, 8j. It is to 
be observed that the preamble recites the civil conflicts in Germany as 
the ground and justification for passing it. And it can hardly be be- 
lieved that in the state of civil society then existing, this was mere 
pretence. It had remained a dead letter. — Fid. IVms/ow's Hypocricie 
Unmasked.^ 10 1, Two successive presidents of Harvard College had 
held Baptist doctrines. And see the grounds of Gov. Winthrop's opin- 
ion in Mrs. Hutchinson's case. — Winthrop's journal, /., 2_^o. 

4. 3 Mass. Col. Rec, 243. For a law passed in 1639 upon the sub- 
ject of apparel, Vid. i id., 27^. 

5. The inhabitants of Dedham, in 1636, petitioned the General 
Court of Election "to ratifie unto your humble petitioners your grante 
formerly made [in 1635] *^f ^ plantation above the ffalls, that we may 
possess all that land which is left out of all former grants upon that 
side of Charles River ; and upon the other side seven miles square." 
They further pray for exemption from taxation for four years, and that 
the Court will " distinguish our towne by the name of Contentment." 
In reply to this petition, the General Court ordered that the plantation 
should have three years' immunity from public charges, should be called 
by the name of Dedham, and should " enjoy all that land on the east- 
erly and southerly side of Charles River not formerly granted unto 



34 

any town or p'ticular p'son, and also to have five miles square on 36 
other side of the river." This grant is copied upon the first page of 
the Dedham town records, and see also i Mass. Col. Rec, i80i 
257 ; J id., 247. Its terms comprehended all the territory in the 
colony eastward and southward of Charles River above the falls not 
previously granted, including the present towns of Dedham, Medfield, 
Wrentham, Bellingham, Walpole, Franklin, Dover, Norfolk, and Nor- 
wood ; and the five miles square on the north and west side of the 
river embraced Needham, Natick and part of Sherburne. Medway 
was not included, that lying north of the river and beyond the limits 
of the five miles square on that side. 

When the time came for laying out a distinct village (1649), Ded- 
ham obtained a further grant from the General Court as follows : " In 
ansr. to a petition of the inhabitants of Dedham ffor a parcell of vpland 
and meadow adjoyning to their line to make a villadge of, in quantity 
4 miles south and north, and three miles east and west, becawse they 
are streightned at tlieir doores by other tounes & rocky lands &c. Their 
request is graunted so as they erect a distinct village therevpon within 
one yeere from this day, Octob. 23 1649, and Capt. Keajne, Mr. Ed- 
ward Jackson & the surveyor gennerall are appointed to lay it out at 
any time, Dedham giving them a weekes warning." — j Jfass. Col. 
Rcc, 181. 

The following is the record of the laying out pursuant to this grant : 
"Whereas there was a graunt made by the Generall Court at a ses- 
sion the 2 2d of the 8th moth, 1649, vnto the inhabitants of Dedham, 
in answer to a petition of theires for the enlargment of the village 
theire, as by the sajd graunt may more fully appeare, this graunt, so 
made, was layd out by Captayne Robt. Keaine and Mr. Edward Jack- 
son, who haue subscribed it with theire hands in manner & forme 
followinge, vizt : begininge at a small hill, or iland, in the meddow 
on the west side of Charles Riuei", & runinge from thence about full 
west three miles, and then, turninge a south line, ended at Charles 
Riuer at three miles & a quarter, this line beinge there shorter then 
by the graunt it was allowed to be, but accepteed by the grauntees, the 
-sajd riuer is appointed to be the bounds from that place to the place 
where the first lyne began. This Court doth approue of this re- 
turne of the psons aboue mentioned concerninge the bounds of the sajd 
village, & in answer to the request of the inhabitants of Dedha, doe 



order that it shalbe called (Meadfeild) — •/ Curia.'''' j Afass. Col. Rec, 

i88. 

The tract of land conveyed by the last grant is now wholly in the 
town of Medway. The " hill or iland in the meddow " is near the 
house of the late Horatio Mason, and the three-mile line "about full 
west " is the present dividing line between Sherborn and Medway, and 
the line beginning at the end of this and running south reaches the 
river just above Medway village. 

Having obtained this grant Oct. 23, 1649, Dedham held a town 
meeting Nov. 14th following, and set apart a portion of its original 
territory for the new town. After reciting the above grant, the town 
voted that there shall be "granted for the accommodation- of the vil- 
lage so much land within the west end of the bounds of Dedham next 
Bogastow, as is or may be contained within the extent of three miles 
east and west, and four miles north and south, — the form and line to 
be varied and altered as in the judgment of such men as shall be 
deputed thereunto shall seem for the most convenient accommodation 
both of Dedham and the said village." 

Jan. I, 1650, Eleazer Lusher, Lieut. Fisher, Ensign Phillips, John 
Dwight, and Daniel Fisher were appointed to lay out this grant from 
Dedham, and the territory laid out by them doubtless conforms to the 
present territory of Medfield (all that portion granted by the General 
Court as above mentioned upon the west side of Charles River now 
forming the town of Medway. — Vid.post). And at a town meeting sub- 
sequently held in the same year, Dedham passed a vote by which it 
" consented unto and ordered " that all the power and right of town 
government in said territory be transmitted and delivered unto the 
town of Medfield and its selectmen forever, Medfield making a certain 
payment, as to which Dedham promised reasonable forbearance. 

Full power is given to Medfield as a town by the following act, en- 
titled " Meadfeild's Power," passed by the General Court 22 May, 
1651 : 

"There beinge a towne lately erected beyond Dedham in the county 

of Suffolke, vppon Charles Riuer, called by the name of Meadfeild, 

vppon theire request, made to this Generall Court, this Court hath 

graunted them all the power & priuiledges which other townes doe 

injoy, according to law. — / Curia.'''' j Mass. Col. Rec, 228 ; 4 id., pt. 7, 

46. 

After this the town regularly appeared by deputy in the General 

Court of Election. 



36 

In 1659 the General Court made an additional grant unto the 
town " at the west ends thereof two miles east & west & fower miles 
north & south," and Capt. Lusher and Lieut. Fisher were appointed 
to lay out this grant, which was done. — 4 Col. Jicc, pt. i, jjg, j8o. 

The territory laid out under this grant was, doubtless, what is now 
the remainder of Medway beyond the grant west of the river in 1649. 
In 1 7 13 the town of Medway, embracing all of Mediield west of the 
river (/. e., the grants of 1649 and 1659), was set off as a distinct town. 
This left remaining in Medfield that territory which originally formed 
a part of Dedham, as before remarked. 

The name of the town is variously spelled. In the Dedham town 
records it is usually spelled Medfield ; in the Medfield records often 
Meadfield ; while in the records of the General Court of Elections the 
Secretary almost invariably transposes the i and e, and makes it " Mead- 
feild." The brand of the town was established by the General Court 
as follows : — " ^^. Itt is ordered that the marke. or letter, in the 
margent be the brand or marke for Meadfeild." — 4 Col. Rec, jj^. 

As to the extent of the territory called Bogastow I am in doubt. 
The word is sometimes used as synonymous with Medfield. But in the 
Medfield town records Medfield is spoken of as " a town to be estab- 
lished near that place commonly called Boggastow," and as located 
"on the westward of the bounds of Dedham toward Boggastow," and 
the name seems more properly to have applied to what is now the 
southern part of Sherborn and the eastern part of Medway. The peti- 
tions for the establishment of a town at Sherburne, and the action of 
the General Court thereupon, refer to the place as Bogastow, and the 
farms granted at Bogastow to Rev. John Allin and others were, doubt- 
less, in the eastern part of Medway. 

6. Eleazer Lusher's public services were veiy numerous. In rec- 
ognition of them, the General Court of Election granted him a tract of 
land for a farm comprising most of the territory Avhere the present vil" 
lage of Holliston stands. 

7. It is indeed true, in the language of Hubbard, that Capt. Loth- 
rop's company, slain at Bloody Brook, was composed of young men 
" the very Flower of the County of Essex, .... none of whom were 
ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate." — /. Hi/b. Itid. Wars, 
1 1 J. But the additional statement that they were "all called out 
of the towns belonging to that county " cannot be correct. Holland 



37 

in his History of Western Massachusetts falls into the same error, 
and in his list of the slain puts Robert Hinsdale and his sons as of 
Manchester. The company was composed of young men from Essex, 
but doubtless others from Deerfield joined it on its arrival there, 
among- them Hinsdale, who had recently removed from Medfield, and 
his sons. Hinsdale's house in Medfield was the first house north of 
Vine Brook, and his well is still in use uj)on the estate. So also Jon- 
athan Plimpton, — son of John Plimpton, one of the signers of the 
original compact for removal from Dedham to Medfield, who had sub- 
sequentl}'' removed to Deerfield, — was a member of Capt. Lothrop's 
Company, and perished at Bloody Brook. Two years and one day 
afterward the father was taken by the Indians from Deerfield, and car- 
ried towards Canada, and likewise perished at their hands. — Vid. 
Savage. 

8. Medfield was burned on the morning of the 21st Feb., 1676. 

9. Timothy Dwight had been for many years the lieutenant of the 
town ; but he was honorably discharged on his own petition by the 
General Court, May 27, 1668. Adams Avas appointed and commis- 
sioned in his place Jan. 6, 1673. — 4 Col. Rcc, pt. 2, J82, 57^. 
He had bought (in 1660) of Eleazer Lusher the farm granted to the 
latter by the General Court, comprising most of the present village of 
Holliston, and placed his sons upon it, but never removed there him- 
self. Maj. Thomas Savage was commander-in-chief of all the forces 
sent for the protection of Medfield.- — 5 Col. Rec, y2. 

10. It has been stated that the Sunday before the assault the In- 
dians were seen on the heights of Mount Nebo and Noon Hill as the 
people came out from public worship, and that the Rev. Mr. Wilson 
had warned his flock to be vigilant against surprise. — Dr. Sautidas's 
Historical Sermon. If this is so, their unguarded condition is matter 
of greater surprise. The first house burned was that of Lieut. Samuel 
Morse, which stood upon somewhat high ground, a few rods south-east- 
erly of the present residence of the Misses Lucy and Mary Morse, but 
upon the north-westerly side of the road as it then ran. The tradition, 
which seems to be without doubt correct, is, that "while Lieut. Morse 
was pitching hay from the mows to feed his cattle, early in the morn- 
ing of the day when the burning took place, he uncovered the leg of 
an Indian who was concealed in the hay. He quietly let out his cat- 
tle, and fled with his family to the fort. He had hardly left the house 
before it was in flames. This was the signal for the work to commence. 



At the close, of the war, this same Indian, passing through the town, 
narrated the circumstance of his being discovered in the hay, and said 
he should not have moved had the fork been thrust through his leg." 
There were four garrisons in the town : one where the house of Mr. 
Bradford Curtis now stands ; one at the Isaac Chenery homestead, 
where Mrs. Coltman now resides ; one at the old Capt. Sadey house, 
afterwards Barachias Mason's, and subsequently the homestead of the 
late Col. Johnson Mason and of Horace Wight; and one where Mr. 
IvOrenzo Harding now lives. The Indians seem to have avoided that 
portion of the town between Lieut. Morse's house and the church. 

Near the house of the late Mr. Moses Bullard, on South Street, 
Elizabeth Smith was killed, and her son Samuel, then an infant in his 
mother's arms, was thrown into the air and left for dead. He was 
afterwards found alive at his mother's breast, and lived to an ofd age- 
One party crossed the meadow in front of the present residence of Mr. 
John Ellis, and near this place were killed Thomas Mason (son of 
Thomas one of the original subscribers for removing) and his eldest 
two sons ; but his wife reached the garrison with their youngest child, 
from whom, the tradition is, all the Masons in this vicinity have de- 
scended. After the work of destruction the Indians crossed the river 
at a bridge which formerly stood between the present turnpike bridge 
and Brastow's bridge, not far from where Mr. Fisher Newell now lives, 
and held a wild feast upon the high land opposite. The position of 
this bridge is shown by a high rock on the bank. King Philip, whom 
tradition reports as having rode in exultation during the burning, leap- 
ing fences and ditches, upon a black horse, caused to be posted upon 
the bridge a paper, of which the following is a copy, 

" Know by this paper that the Indians that thou hast provoked to 
" Wrath and Anger will war this twenty-one years if you will. There 
"are many Indians yett. We come 300 at this Time, You must con- 
" sider that the Indians loose nothing but their lives. You must loose 
"your fair houses and cattle." 

The common belief that the ancient "Peak House" was standing 
when the town was burned is probably erroneous. The best present 
information upon the subject tends to the conclusion that this was 
part of another building standing a short distance from the present 
spot, built at a later date, and moved to the place where it now 
stands. 

II. The land at Sturbridge was granted in 1729 to several peti- 



39 

tioners from Mediield, and was called New Medfield until its incorpo- 
ration in 1738. It was for some time a kind of plantation, where the 
proprietors or those employed by them went in the summer, av.d 
returned in the autumn. For some time after the work of dealing 
began,' no one dared to spend the winter in a place so remote fiom 
habitation. — Clarke's Historical Sermon. The first meeting-house w as 
consecrated by the Rev. Mr. Baxter. 

12. Slavery prevailed in Medfield, and it is perhaps from this fact 
that the resolutions are so strong and so pointedly directed against it. 
Rev. Mr. Baxter, by will, probated in 1745, devised to his wife "My 
negro slave Nanny during my wife's life, and to my said negro slave I 
give her freedom at my wife's decease." In a codicil he makes tlie 
bequest of freedom to depend on the condition that the negro woman 
shall " in all things carry and behave herself dutifully and well 
towards her said mistress, my wife. " Warwick Green was a slave, 
brought from Africa, and was the body servant of Col. Wheelock in 
the army. Newport Green was also a slave. 

13. The news of the battle of Lexington was brought to Medfield, 
as to the other towns, by a horseman. I remember hearing the tradi- 
tion that the wall in front of the late Augustus Plimpton place was 
being laid the day on which the news came. The M'ork stopped, and 
the men went to the army. This was but a sample of the conduct 
of the people. It is a matter of regret to me that I am unable to give 
some full and personal account of the soldiers from Medfield in the 
Revolutionary War. A want of time to make the necessary examina- 
tions, caused by the pressure of other duties, alone prevents me from 
attempting to gather such facts as are now accessible, and which 
indeed are fast fading from recollection and knowledge. 

14. —3 Col. Rec., 4S; 4 id.pt. i, 382 ; pt. 2., 55^. 

15. For several generations the descendants of Ralph Wheelock 
continued to live in Medfield, and to exercise a prominent part in 
public affairs. Col. Ephraim Wheelock, great-grandson of Ralph, 
was eight years in the French and Revolutionary wars, was captain at 
the siege of Louisburg, and afterwards served at Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point. He was the grandfather of the Misses Lucy and Mary 
Morse, — who are also descendants of Samuel Morse, and still reside 
upon his original homestead, — and whose knowledge and intelligent 
zeal in matters relating to the history of the town deserve the highest 
praise. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT BUILDING. 



The style of the architecture is a Germanized-Gothic. The chief building 
material is of selected brick, with Nova Scotia stone dressing, while the more 
important decorative parts are of cast-iron, painted and sanded in imitation of the 
stone. The base work is of Rockport granite, with the principal steps and tiling 
of the large main vestibule of marble. The situation of the building and surface of 
the land are such as to give a story of twelve feet on the rear side, and a portion of 
the ends entirely out of the ground. This basement story contains two large 
furnaces and fuel cellars, with one of the main hall furnaces in each, accommoda- 
tions for police detention cells, a fire-engine room, with a large assemblage room 
for the firemen, a room for the town hearse, a large room to let for mechanical 
purposes, two small cellar rooms for use of stores above ; also two water closets, &c. 
All the partition walls of this story are of substantial brick work, and four stairways 
give access to the main floor. t 

The floor above the basement provides four commodious stores, the Selectmen's 
room (containing a substantial brick vault), the Public Library, a janitor's room, a 
rear stairway to platform of main hall and its anterooms, and also the grand stair- 
case to the hall. The vestibule from which these stairs start is finished with a 
marble tiled floor, ash wainscoting, and finely frescoed in oil. 

The main hall is on the second floor, and finished well into the roof, and is, 
together with the stairways and entries, highly finished in fresco. There are ante- 
rooms leading from the platform, with a gallery above them. At the front or 
entrance end of the building are other anterooms, on each side of the stairway, 
communicating both with the main hall and entry. The main hall windows, four 
on each side, are finished with inside blinds, and the room is lighted at night by 
four large and two small chandeliers. A stairway from this floor leads to the 
gallery over the front anterooms, and others again to a still higher room finished 
in the tower, and yet others to a deck at top of tower roof which is covered with 
copper. All ridges are covered with cast-iron crestings, and the tower deck with 
an iron balustrade. 

A tower, eighteen feet square, stands at the left front corner, the main building 
without tower or projections being 48x80 feet, and standing sideways to the main 
street. The tower continues a proper height above the main roof, is surmounted by 



a lofty roof of its own, and terminates with the observatory deck before named. 
The store fronts are between the tower and a projecting wing frontward on the right 
hand corner. This wing is finished with a steep roof, showing a well decorated 
timbered gable, etc. Ample provisions have been made in the hall for water closets 
at each end of the building, and all possible convenience for making the building 
thoroughly constructed in every part and complete in all its appliances. The 
outside steps to the store on one end and Public Library and Selectmen's room on 
the other are of cast-iron, and the land about the building has been completely 
graded. 

In a recess built for the purpose in the vestibule is a large and elaborately 
finished marble tablet, to the memory of Mr. Chenery, the donor of the original 
building. The tablet bears the following inscription : — 

DEDICATED 

BY Ills FELLOW TOWNSMEN 

TO THE 

MEMORY OF GEORGE W. CHENERY, 

THROUGH WHOSE 

LIBERALITY THIS BUILDING WAS ERECTED, 
A. D. MDCCCLXXII. 



G. W. C. 



Born March 4, 1S26. 

Died June 28, 1S66. 

" Semper Honorandus Api/d Posteros.'' 



SUPPLEMENT. 



SUPPLEMENT. 

The following papers will sufficiently explain the 
necessary enlargement of this little volume. The sev- 
eral parts were performed according to the " Order of 
Exercises " herewith given. 

ORDER OF EXERCISES 

AT THE 

RE-DEDICATION 

OF THE 

TOWN HALL, MEDFIELD, 

NOVEMBER 2, 1874. 



MUSIC. 

Medfield Cornet Band, Wm. R. Smith, Leader. 

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

Charles Hamant, Esq., President of the Day. 

REMARKS. 

Rev. J. M. R. Eaton. 

Delivery of the Keys, by J. B. Hale, Esq., Chairman of the Building 

Committee, and Reception of the Same, by Rev. C. C. 

Sewall, in behalf of the Citizens of the Town. 



44 



MUSIC. 

DEDICATORY PRAYER. 
Rev. C. C. Sewall, 

ADDRESS. 

Robert R. Bishop, Esq., of Kcwlon, formerly of Medfield. 

MUSIC. 

REMARKS FROM OTHERS PRESENT. 

SINGING. 
Hymn v*rittcn by the Rev. C. C. Sr.AVALL for the occasion. 

Father ! we mark the evidence, 

On Avhom our hopes depend ; — 
The witness of Thy providence, 

Whose goodness hath no end. 

The hope, once cherished without fear. 

Delusive proved and vain ; 
But now we gladly gather here 

To testify again 

The gratitude we owe to Thee, 

Who hath our hope renewed ; 
Reminding us, where that must be. 

No change can e'er delude. 

O, hear the trustful, earnest quest, 

We breathe, in faith, to Thee, 
That on this house Thy blessing rest j 

And grant it long to be 

A monument of deep-felt sense 

Of duty to the name 
Of him,* from whose munificence, 

The gift we treasure, came ; 

And long the heart of youth allure 

To seek enduring fame 
In knowledge, truth, and virtue pure. 

And win a deathless name. 

BENEDICTION. . 

Rev. A. M. Crane. 

♦George W. Chonery. 



45 

After music by the band, Charles Hamant, Esq., 
President of the day, made the following remarks. 

REMARKS BY CHARLES HAMANT, ESQ. 

Ladies and Gentlcuien : — • 

On the loth day of September, a little more than two years 
since, we were assembled, in a beautiful, attractive, and conven- 
ient building for the purposes for which it was intended, erected 
upon this spot by the liberality of one of the noble sons of this 
ancient town, whose memory we cherish and honor to-day as 
then ; and now, for similar purposes, and with ever grateful 
remembrances, we would have our thoughts and feelings in 
unison with the occasion. , 

On the morning of the 8th day of January last, while our 
citizens were in deepest sleep, the terrifying alarm of Fire 
resounded through the streets of our village, arousing us only to 
painfully witness the total destruction of the beautiful edifice 
which we had with justifiable pride and pleasure so dedicated. 

Those who witnessed the rapidity with which the destructive 
element performed its work, the flames simultaneously leaping 
and shooting from roof, tower, and every window of the structure ; 
and finally the crash, as one after another of the walls yielded 
and fell, — can never forget the scenes of that dismal night. Men 
stood as if paralyzed, powerless to stay the work of destruction, 
which was complete, — involving, it is believed, a greater loss of 
property than the aggregate, since the memorable historic con- 
flagration of 1676. 

Resolution soon took the place of despondency; some of the 
highest feelings of our nature were quickened, and sympathy was 
aroused to activity, in partially supplying the personal losses of 
some of our citizens who had suffered. A call for a meeting of 



46 

the town was promptly made, and, with feelings of pride and 
satisfaction, we bear testimony to-day to the entire unanimity 
with which the assembled voters at that meeting enthusiastically 
responded in the affirmative to the question, "Shall we rebuild?" 
The subsequent proceedings were in harmony with the spirit of 
this meeting. The committee appointed by the town at once and 
energetically went forward with the work confided to them, and 
how faithfully and well they have executed the trust, let these 
walls silently, but eloquently, speak. This beautiful edifice has, 
phoenix-like, arisen from the ashes of the former structure, and 
we are here on this delightful autumnal day to re-dedicate to the 
public use the grand and beautiful building in which we are 
assembled ; and long may it proudly stand, as a memorial of the 
noble spirit which gave it birth; of him who has passed the dark 
vale to brighter scenes beyond ; to gladden the hearts of the 
aged, whose sun is fast descending to the west ; and animate all 
to the practice of those virtues which are indispensable condi- 
tions of social and individual security and happiness; and 
remind us — 

" . . . . the life of Heaven above 
Springs from the life below." 

Remarks were then made by Rev. J. M. R. Eaton, 
welcoming citizens and invited guests to the Hall and 
the occasion, following which was an address by J. B. 
Hale, Esq., on delivering the keys. 

AOnRESS BV J. D. HALE, ESQ. 

Afr. President and Fclhnv-Citir:cns : — 

You can all recall the sad 8th of January last, when we found 
our beautiful Town Hall, that we had taken so much pride in, 
reduced to ashes, together with the public library, fire apparatus 
complete, and a new hearse, totally destroyed, and with only a 



47 

partial insurance on the building. Our first thought was that 
the loss was irreparable. But a few days elapsed before there 
was a feeling developed that as the building had been a gift we 
were morally bound to restore it in all its beauty and usefulness, 
and at a town meeting, called the 24th of January, it was voted 
to rebuild the Town Hall. 

A Committee was chosen, consisting of J. B. Hale, J. R. 
Cushman, D. D. Curtis, A. B. Parker and G. H. Ellis, to pro- 
cure plans and estimates for the new building. February 7th, 
the Committee reported plans drawn by T. W. Silloway, with 
statement of estimated cost, and having had a short time for 
procuring plans it was voted to extend time for the report of the 
committee to the day of the annual town meeting. Six plans 
were presented March 2d. 

Voted — To accept and adopt the plans of a town. hall offered by T. W. Silloway. 
pf Boston, at an estimated cost of $i8,ooo, including debris of former building. 

Voted — To choose J. B. Hale, J. R. Cushman, D. D. Curtis, A. B. Parker and 
George H. Ellis to be the Building Committee. 

Voted — That said committee be authorized to contract with responsible and 
competent builders to build the Town Hall. 

Voted — The Building Committee be instructed not to exceed $20,000 for the 
completion of the building. 

August 29, 1S74. — Voted — That the committee be autjjorized to expend a sum 
not exceeding $1,200 in furnishing the building, exclusive of the Public Library, and 
for heating and lighting apparatus for the same. 

The Trustees of the Public Library placed in our hands the 
fitting up and furnishing their room to be done substantially as 
it was before, and not to exceed ^500 ; afterwards they ordered a 
cabinet at an estimated expense of ^50, thus giving us ^550 for 

that department. 

We have had most of that work done by the contractors of 
the building, and we now report the entire expense of the 



48 

library, fitting up and furnishing, at $506.34, for which the 
proper vouchers are ready. With the $1,200 for furnishing, 
heating, and lighting the rest of the building, we have procured 
everything deemed necessary in each department so far as our 
limited time would allow, not intending to overlook the smallest 
want, and the expense has been $1,199.35, for which the proper 
vouchers are in hand. 

For the construction of the building the architect com- 
menced at once to carefully prepare drawings and specifications 
to the satisfaction of the Committee, and as soon as ready they 
were placed in the hands of responsible contractors. We had 
five competitors, to the lowest of which, Messrs. Mead, Mason & 
Co., of Boston, the contract was awarded for the sum of $17,870. 

In the course of erection various improvements have sug- 
gested themselves, some of which were so decidedly good that 
we have felt the necessity of adopting them, and by so doing 
incurred a further expense to the contractors of $575.03. So 
the cost of construction is as follows, viz: — 

Contrnct price, ...... $17,870.00 

Balance — extras, Mead, Mason & Co., . . . 544-00 

" " Otis Weiitworth, . . . . 3' -03 

Architect fees and expense, ..... 642.00 

Freiglit, . » . 

B. F. Crehore, iron work, 



C. E. Kershaw, cell and vault door 
Oiling building, 

Stucco work, 

L. J. Shepard, frescoing, . . 

D. Hoisington, 

R. W. Sherman, curb-stone work, 
G. W. & F. Smith, iron steps, 



5--3I 
190.00 

62.25 
120.00 
475.00 

10.75 

30.00 

250.00 



W. F. Whittemore, painting, .... 9.75 

J. B. Hale, balance over sale of old material, . . . 35-46 

$20,323.75 
We have drawn .... 20,000,00 

Leaving unpaid .... $3-3-75 



49 

We have also, at the earnest request of prominent citizens, 
ordered iron gates for vestibule, which will still be to pay for. 

In closing our report, it is but justice to say if there is any 
credit in our work, we are largely indebted, first, to the architect, 
Mr. T. W. Silloway, of Boston, a gentleman of large experience, 
thoroughly competent in his profession, and a sound, practical 
adviser, who has entered heartily into the carrying out of our 
plans, and was, to all intents and purposes, an additional member 
of the Committee. We cheerfully commend his services to any 
one desiring an architect. 

Messrs. Mead, Mason & Co., contractors, and Mr. Otis Went- 
worth, who assumed the contract for granite, brick, slate, marble, 
and iron work, and their efficient superintendents ; also Mr. Shep- 
ard, whose frescoing has done so much to beautify the building 
— all have entered heartily into carrying out their contracts in a 
faithful and honorable manner, according to the specifications, 
and so lightening very much the duties of the Building Com- 
mittee; and we recommend them with pleasure in their several 
spheres. 

We are indebted to the Messrs. Harwood Brothers, of Brom- 
field Street, Boston, for a present of the elegant clock that helps 
so much to adorn our hall, and for locating it where it may be an 
admonition to all prosy occupants of this desk. And to D. D. 
Curtis, Esq., for a present of a fine eagle which adorns this end 
of the hall. 

The Committee appointed some time since to procure a 
memorial* tablet to the memory of George "W. Chenery, have 
co-operated with the Building Committee by having it placed in 
position to be ready for this day. In delivering to you, as the 
representatives of the town, the keys to this building, and with 
them the responsibility which has rested upon us, we have 
endeavored to carry out the trust reposed in us, and earnestly 



50 

hope no faults will be found that shall seriously mar the enjoy- 
ment and possession of this building for the various uses for 
which it is intended. 

Rev. C. C. Sewall received the keys on behalf of the 
town, and made the following address. 

ADDRESS BY REV. C. C. SEWALL. 

JMr. Chairniaii : — 

It is with no common pleasure that, in the name and as the 
representative of the citizens of Medfield, I am privileged to 
receive from you the keys of this building. I accept them as a 
symbol of the noble and generous bequest of our benefactor; 
intended by him as a means of providing better accommodations 
for the discharge of our civic and political duties, and for mental 
culture and social enjoy menf. I accept them as a symbol, also, 
of a sacred trust committed to our keeping and care. 

And it is. Sir, with even greater pleasure that I am permitted 
to thank you and your associates for the interest and pains you 
have taken to procure a tasteful and serviceable plan for the 
erection and interior arrangements of this building; and for your 
constant and faithful supervision of the construction of it. I am 
sure. Sir, that your fellow-citizens — one and all — recognize and 
appreciate these services, and are most heartily disposed to con- 
gratulate you and your associates upon the timely and entirely 
satisfactory completion of your labors. 

The building is universally admitted to be superior to that, 
the place of which it takes, and the loss of which had been so 
severely felt and deeply regretted. It has been erected in 
accordance with the admirable plan of an architect, whose works 
display his superior taste and skill wherever they are seen ; and 
with industry and faithfulness on the part of contractors and 
workmen, which deserve and command our grateful recognition. 



51 

Its interior adornments — alike most valuable and useful bear 

testimony to the liberality of donors closely connected by family 
ties and associations with the people of the place. 

And now, Sir, long after he who addresses you, and they in 
whose behalf I am speaking, shall have passed away from all 
earthly scenes, may this hall, in all its beauty, bear testimony to 
them who shall succeed us, of the appreciation and grateful 
acknowledgment of the services of yourself and your associates 
of the Building Committee, by the present citizens of Medfield. 

These keys, as I have said, are a symbol of the trust which 
is now committed to us. That trust. Sir, we will faithfully keep. 
This beautiful hall reveals to us, and will speak to others, of the 
name and the liberality of our noble benefactor. His name you 
have inscribed on the tablet which meets the eye at the entrance 
of the building, and the beauty and perfection of which must . 
strike every beholder. And, by God's blessing, we will transmit 
the building, uninjured, to future generations, with that tablet 
still bearing the memorial which we all feel to be most truly 
deserved : — 

'• Semper lioi}nnnidiis apitd po-^^teros.''^ 

x^n appropriate prayer of dedication was then offered 
by Rev. Mr. Sewall, after which Robert R. Bishop, Esq., 
delivered the following address. 

ADDRESS BY ROBERT R. BISHOP, ESQ. 

We come again. — in the beautiful Indian summer, when the 
forests are purple and gold, and the showers of their falling 
leaves carpet the earth, — we gather again, to open the doors of 
^/lis hall. The fire has done its work. The beautiful structure 
which you had hoped to hand down to posterity is ashes. We 
come to find the legacy reproduced by faithful hands, in con- 
struction more thorough, with all known defects removed, as 



artistic, as beautiful ; and we sincerely trust that if the youngest 
child in Medfield shall live to the age of our venerable friend 
whose chair to-day is vacant, * or of the other venerable men 
whom I see before me, fathers of the town, whose lives have 
been its life, and whose biographies have been its history for so 
many years, the child shall die with its walls still standing, and 
its doors still open for the performance of the public duties of a 
free people. 

So much was consumed ; so much has been restored. But 
all was not destroyed. What if the records had gone ! Thanks 
to a wooden safe, built when oak lumber was plenty and work- 
manship you may be sure was genuine and sincere, — thanks 
that it was not a modern contrivance with a coat of black paint 
to keep the fire out and a hole to let it in, — the records were 
not lost. The tale of the life of this town from the days of 
Ralph Wheelock to your own is still preserved and speaks from 
their pages. Do not forget that they contain the germ of all 
that makes us a free people. " Child of the Reformation," — the 
historian says, — "Child of the Reformation, closely connected 
with the past centuries and with the greatest intellectual strug- 
gles of mankind, New^ England had been planted by enthusiasts 
who feared no sovereign but God." f These enthusiasts were 
scattered all over the colony. Every little town bristled with 
them, and when the time for the great struggle came, turn back 
the leaves of your own records for a century to find how well 
your fathers comported with the grandeur of the occasion ; turn 
them back to find every principle of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence previously asserted in your own town meetings ; turn 
them back to challenge attention to the eloquent, the fervid, the 
daring, the righteous and the prophetic language of the unknown 
draughtsman, which would have done honor to the pen of Joseph 

♦The late Rev. Dr. Allen, of Noitlilioio. t Bancroft.Vol. 4, p. 151. 



53 

Warren or of Samuel Adams or of Josiah Quincy, Jr., and which 
the town voted should be " put upon file in the town records, as 
a memorial to ages yet unborn of the present generation's high 
sense of the importance of our natural and charter liberties." 
What if the train of unborn generations which was to read these 
words, with increasing awe as the ages pass, had been cut short 
on the morning of the eighth of January, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-four ! 

And if there were heroes in those days, — if they were your 
ancestors and mine, — what is the lesson which their lives teach ? 
They show the true character of an American citizen, then, now, 
to the latest generation. Either we have no opportunities given 
us from God, or we ought to be ashamed of ourselves if, accord- 
ing to the measure of our opportunities and the character of our 
circumstances, we do not likewise prove ourselves faithful to 
the high trusts of men. It would indeed be an empty worship 
to bow at the shrine of the past and not to attempt to incor- 
porate into our own characters its strength, and truth. In the 
comparison I am ashamed to walk the same streets, to look 
upon the same landscape, to have derived my existence from the 
same spot, if I emulate not the same qualities. To-day we come 
into this hall for the formal and congratulatory exercises of its 
opening ; to-morrow *' you will occupy it for a far more important 
purpose. See to it, that as the liberties of the country were 
born of the vigilance of the people in their town-meetings, they 
be not lost by their neglect. 

The present danger is not an open one ; it is as insidious as 
it is dangerous. The danger to the country now takes the 
form either of corruption or of indifference. And these evils 
usually go hand in hand. Did you ever observe it } the best 
men usually aid the worst men, until the best men wake up. 

* The day of the annual election. 



54 

Then they crush the worst men, and then go to sleep again ; 
and the rascal comes again, and makes a trade of the virtue he 
claims to have, and gets elected. Thus the best play into the 
hands of the worst. There is no sight so pitiful as men of the 
best purposes and motives led captive at the will of a charlatan, 
unaware of his wiles, unconscious of his power, beguiled by his 
parade of virtue. The vice of modern times, — glitter for gold, 
pretence for reality, profession for principle, — wins the victory 
if you are not ever on the alert. No wonder that character 
shrinks from a contest, and propriety even from contact, with 
the worst element in politics. No wonder that all the better 
elements of our nature turn with aversion from the field where 
public office is sought for private advantage, and the high mo- 
tives which ought to animate a public servant give place to the 
basest. But remember that the fate of the country depends 
upon whether true men abandon the active field. Will you 
accomplish the purpose of dishonest politicians by allowing them 
alone to attend to the concerns of the public .'' In the conse- 
quences I know not which is the worst, the corrupt politician 
seeking place, or the man who from whatever motive, — distaste, 
indifference, or sentimentality, — mistakes his duty so far that he 
will have nothing to do with public affairs. Therefore I appeal 
— I instinctively appeal — to. the men of this town to attend to 
the duties for the performance of which this hall is provided. 
Be citizens. Be vigilant citizens. Never seek the power of 
office; never avoid the responsibilities of men! 

"Of what avail is plough, or sail, 
If freedom fail ! " 

And if you differ from me in my estimate of the importance 
of this subject, — if you think attention to these duties may be 
excused, and especially in a small town, — there is one question 



55 

which I wish to ask. In the year eighteen hundred and fifty- 
one, this, town chose as its representative to the General Court a 
man, who, throughout the great contest as to who should be the 
successor of Daniel Webster in the Senate of the United States, 
voted, steadily and continuously, at every ballot from the begin- 
ning to the end, for Charles Sumner. He was never absent, he 
never wavered ; the roll-call still shows his name. And when 
after the lapse of nearly three months from the beginning, on 
the twenty-sixth ballot, Charles Sumner was elected by precisely 
the requisite number of votes without a single vote to spare, he 
had the satisfaction of knowing that his fidelity had achieved 
the grand result. If this were now any question of party, — if 
there now remained any savor of party about it, — it would be in 
a high degree improper on this occasion to allude to it. But 
Charles Sumner, thank God, before he died had proved to the 
world how far he was' beyond the domain of party. As in the 
light of history we look back upon that event, as no eye but a 
prophet's could then discern it, we say, It was the Providence of 
God ; and my question is : Which of you will undertake to esti- 
mate the consequences to mankind if your representative in 
eighteen hundred and fifty-one had faltered in his course ? 

And thus, friends, as we dedicate this building, and bid 
welcome to it for all the future all good thoughts, all high aspi- 
rations, all fitting speech, all exhilarating song, decorous and 
enlivening festivities for youth, serious and grave affairs for 
men; we perform — is it not so.? — the high work also of dedi- 
cating ourselves to the best in life ; to the best in life, for life 
and forever ; allegiance to the truth, in politics, morals, society ; 
hatred of shams ; a steady, undeviating purpose, and an unwaver- 
ing faith. For as God lives, He crowns the work and never fails 
to set His seal upon the honest effort of the earnest soul. Thus 
shall we best thank the donor of this hall, — himself a vigilant 



56 

citizen, — himself an example both of the spirit of private recti- 
tude and of public honor, — thank, him with our lives, which are 
better than our words. 

At the close of Mr. Bishop's Address several gentle- 
men responded in earnest words appropriate to senti- 
ments read by the President. Rev. J. H. Wiggin, of 
Marlboro; Rev. Mr. Crane, of Medfield; R. T. Lom- 
bard, Esq., of Medfield; J. B. Hale, Esq., of Medfield; 
George Cummings, of Medfield ; T. W. Silloway, of 
Boston; N. T. Allen, of West Newton; R. R. Bishop, 
Esq., of Newton ; and W. H. Baldwin, of Boston. 



A BRIEF SKETCH 



MINISTRY IN THE SEVERAL CHURCHES IN MEDFIELD. 



FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

This church was organized in the course of the year 1650. No 
more definite record of its organization remains. Rev. John Wilson, 
Jr., — son of Rev. John Wilson, first Pastor of the First Church in 
Charlestown, and afterwards first Pastor of the First Church in Bos- 
ton — was installed first Pastor of the church, December, 165 1. He 
was a member of the first class graduated at Harvard University, in 
1642. He had been previously ordained and settled as Pastor of the 
First Church in Dorchester, and as Coadjuto)- of Rev. Richard Mather, 
Teacher of that church. He continued in the active and faithful dis- 
charge of his ministry in Medfield during forty years ; preaching twice 
on the last Sabbath before his death, August 23, 1691.* 

Rev. Joseph Baxter was ordained Pastor, April 21, 1697. Eighty 
persons were then members of the church, and three hundred and 
seventy-one were added during his ministry. Mr. Baxter was widely 
known, and universally esteemed among the most influential ministers 
of the times. 

Rev. Jonathan Townsend was received into the church and ordained 
Pastor, October 23, 1745. During his ministry — which terminated 
October 9, 1769 — sixty-four members were added to the church. 

Rev. Thomas Prentiss, D.D., was admitted to full communion and 
ordained Pastor of the church, October 31, 1770. His character was 
highly esteemed, and his influence was extensively felt throughout this 

*"Tlie flr.-t instance, as far as is known, of prayer at a funeral in Massachusetts, was at 
the burial of the Rev. William Adams, of Roxbiiry, An^ust 19, 1G85 when, as Judge Sewall 
noted in his Diary, 'Mr. Wilson, of Medfield, prayed with the company before they went 
to the grave.' " — LerhforcVs Plain Uenling, x). 89. 



58 

community, and in all the neighboring churches. He died, universally 
beloved and lamented, February 28, 18 14, in the sixty-seventh year of 
his age, and the forty-fourth of his ministry. One hundred and eighty- 
eight members were added to the church while he was its Pastor, 

Rev. Daniel Clark Sanders, D.D., — recently President of Vermont 
University, and, previously, Pastor of the Congregational Church in 
Vergennes, Vt., — was unanimously invited to become Pastor, Decem- 
ber 7, 1814, and was installed, May 24, 1815. Eighty-seven persons 
were then members of the church ; and, during his ministry — which 
terminated, March 2, 1829 — forty members were added. 

The church continued united and in harmony until 1827. At this 
time the discussions and dissensions prevalent in the community, in 
relation to various points of doctrine and of church polity, were the 
occasion of much agitation and discord here. Several members of the 
church, together with the two Deacons, withdrew ; and, impelled by 
their religious convictions, formed a Second Congregational Church 
and Societ}^ During the ministry of Dr. Sanders, a large and flour- 
ishing Sunday School was formed, in 18 18. This was one of the first 
Sunday Schools established in the vicinit}'. Stoves, for heating the 
meeting-house, were first introduced here in 1826. 

Rev. James Augustus Kendall — son of Rev. James Kendall, 
D.p., of Plymouth, Mass., — was admitted to full communion, and 
ordained Pastor of the church, November 10, 1830. He was dismissed, 
at his own request, June 26, 1837, and cordially recommended to the 
sympathy and fellowship of any church with which he might, in the 
providence of God, become connected. During his ministry twenty 
members were added to the church. The Church Covenant was 
simplified. A new Hymn Book, compiled by Rev. F. W. P. Green- 
wood, of Boston, was adopted. 

During the interval between the dismission of Mr. Kendall and 
the settlement of his successor, the meeting-house was remodeled, 
and thoroughly repaired. Its position was changed, a steeple erected, 
and a vestry added. 

Rev. Charles Robinson, formerly Pastor of the Congregational 
Church in Eastport, Maine, and recently of the First Church in 
Groton, Mass., was installed Pastor, October 16, 1839. After an 
able and faithful ministry, during which twenty members were added 
to the church, he was dismissed, at his own request, October 16, 1850, 

Rev. Rushton D. Burr was ordained Pastor of the church, January 



59 

12, 1853, find entered upon the work of his ministry with much zeal 
and industry. Having received a call to become Pastor of the Unita- 
rian Church in Marietta, Ohio, his pastoral connection was dissolved, 
at his own request, September 6, 1857. During his ministry five 
members were added to the church. 

Rev. Solon W. Bush —recently Pastor of the Unitarian Congrega- 
tional Church in Burlington, Vt., —was installed Pastor, December 
24, 1 85 7. During his peaceful and efficient ministry twenty-three 
members were added to the church. He was dismissed, at his own 
request, in 1865, and became editor of the Christian Register, a weekly 
religious paper published in Boston ; and is now acting Pastor of the 
First Congregational Cluirch in Needham, Mass. 

Rev. James H. Wiggin — recently Pastor of the Second Congrega- 
tional Church in Marblehead, Mass.,— was installed Pastor, October 
6, 1867. During his ministry the plan was adopted of having only 
one sermon on Sunday, and this in the afternoon, preceded by the 
services of the Sunday School, which was systematized and enlarged, 
and made one of the most efficient and successful schools in^the 
vicinity. Conference meetings were held on Sunday evenings, and a 
series of public lectures given during the winter. The prosperity of 
the church and the Sunday School was thought to exceed that of any 
former period of their history. Mr. Wiggin — having received a call 
to become Pastor of the First Congregational Church in Marlborough, 
Mass., — was dismissed, at his own request, March i, 1873. During 
his efficient ministry fifteen members were added to the church. 
Repairs are now being made upon the church edifice, costing upwards 
of 56,000. 

BAPTIST CHURCH. 

N-irlyone hundred years after the settlement and incorporation 
of the town, a few persons — entertaining the sentiments and convic- 
tions of the Baptist denomination of Cln-istians — began to hold 
meetings for separate religious worship. From this small nucleus 
proceeded, soon afterwards, a society of quite considerable numbers 
and strength. The first meeting-house was built in 1770. A church, 
consisting of twent3--nine members, was organized in 1776. 

Rev. Mr. Gair — a member of the First Baptist Church in Boston, 
and a graduate of Brown University — was unanimously invited to 
become Pastor, August 25, 1776, and was ordained to that office, Sep- 
tember 18, 1776. An extensive revival was enjoyed in 1778; during 



6o 



which thirty-six members were added to the church. The society was 
also increased in like proportion, and then embraced, it was said, the 
greater part of the wealth and intelligence of the town. 

This brightest period of its history was succeeded by many years of 
darkness and distress. The church was rent by controversies and 
discussions. Expectations — apparently well grounded — of a large 
pecuniary legacy were disappointed. So discouraging was the condi- 
tion and prospect of affairs, that a meeting was called for the express 
purpose of dissolving the society. The completion of this purpose 
was happily, and, it would seem, providentially, prevented. 

From the year 1808 preaching was constantly maintained. 

In 18 10, Rev. William Gammell was unanimously invited to 
become Pastor, and accepted the invitation. He possessed peculiar 
gifts for the ministry, and was popular and influential as a citizen. 
Under his pastoral care the church and society prospered. His 
resignation, in 1823, was much regretted by them, and by the commu- 
nity. He had baptized eighty-eight persons. After his removal, 
twenty-five members of the church — then residents of Dedham — 
withdrew, and formed an independent society there. The number 
remaining in the original church was now sixty-nine. 

In 1824, Rev. J. Ballard was, by vote of the church, constituted 
Moderator of all future meetings. Without any more formal intro- 
duction to the pastoral office, he was very successful in the discharge 
of its duties for the space of about four years. The former prosperity 
of the church appeared to be returning when his removal again dark- 
ened the prospect. 

The pulpit was now supplied, for several months, by Rev. J. A. 
Boswell. 

In 1830, Rev. Moses Curtis became Pastor, by unanimous vote of 
the church. During his ministry, of about three years, the church was 
enlarged ; but it also experienced seasons of great trial. He baptized 
twenty-three persons. 

His immediate successor — Rev. Amos Lefavour — appears to 
have been a man of singular temperament, and of absurd pretensions. 
During the few months of his ministr}-, he was thought to have done 
all in his power to injure or destroy the church. 

In 1834, Rev. Horatio Loring was unanimously invited to become 
Pastor of the church. He accepted the invitation: and, after a niin- 



6i 



istry of three years, the dissokition of his pastoral connection was 
universally regretted. 

In 1838, the meeting-house now occupied by the society was built. 
It was dedicated on the third day of October, and the Rev. D. W. 
Phillips was, at the same time, ordained Pastor of the church. In 
1841, a revival — resembling that in 1778 — was enjoyed, and many 
were added to the church. In 1845, a season of severe trial was 
experienced. Throughout New England great moral and religious 
questions agitated the whole community, and the peace and union of 
many churches w^ere nearly extinguished. Ficm this tribulation the 
church in Medfield came out strong in harmony and brotherly love ; 
and afterwards possessed a more commanding position and influ- 
ence in the community than it had obtained at any previous period of 
its history. Mr. Phillips dissolved his pastoral connection in 1S50. 

He was immediately succeeded by Rev. George G. Fairbanks, who 
was settled in 185 1, and continued Pastor of the church till 1855. 
During his very able ministry ten members were added to the church. 

Rev. J. W. Lathrop beccm.e Pastor in 1856. His peaceful and 
faithful ministry continued till 1862, and sixty-three mem.bers were 
added to the church. 

Rev. Amos Plarris succeeded Mr. Lathrop. His ministry con- 
tinued about three years, and twenty-four members were added to the 
church. Mr. Harris was held in highest esteem and affection by his 
flock, and in universal respect by the community. He was compelled, 
on account of failing health, to dissolve his pastoral connection, in 
1865. 

Rev. A. W. Carr — previously Pastor of the Baptist Church in 
Framingham — was the successor of Mr. Harris. During his minis- 
try, which terminated in 1870, the society prospered, and twenty-eight 
members were added to the church. 

Rev. A. M. Crane — a recent graduate of the Theological Institu- 
tion at Newton — is the present Pastor of the church, and, by ability 
and fidelity in the discharge of the duties of his office, is winning uni- 
versal respect and esteem. 

During the year 1874, the house of worship was repaired and 
improved at an expense of $12,575, one-half of the amount having 
been paid by Mr. George Cummings. 



62 



SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

The Second Congregational Church was organized February 6, 
1827, consisting of seventeen members. 

Rev. Arthur Granger was installed F'astor, April 20, 1831. Pre- 
vious to this time the church had received an accession of twenty-five 
members, and during his pastorate, which terminated August 27, 1832, 
twenty-four were added to the membership. 

Rev. Walter Bidwell was installed Pastor, September 19, 1833, 
and dismissed April 18, 1836, having received twenty-two members. 

Rev, Charles Walker was installed Pastor, June 21, 1827, dis- 
missed, August 21, 1838. 

Rev. John Ballard supplied the pulpit a year and a half, com- 
mencing September, 1838, and received five members. 

From January, 1841, Rev. Moses G. Grosvenor supplied about the 
same length of time, and received to the church five members. 

Rev. Thomas T. Richmond was installed Pastor, October 25, 1S42, 
and dismissed, September 12, 1855. Tiiirty-four were added] to the 
church. 

Rev. Andrew Bigelow, D.D., was installed Pastor, September 12, 
1855, and dismissed, September 5, 1866, having received seventy-one 
members. 

In April, 1867, Rev. Chester Bridgman was hired for one year, 
during which time he received ten persons to church fellowship. 

Rev. J. M. R. Eaton, declining a call to settle, commenced his 
labors as acting Pastor in 1869. The present membership of the 
church is one hundred and four. During the year 1843 a chapel was 
built, the church repaired, and a new organ placed in it, at an expense 
of some over $4,500, of which sum Mr. F. D. Ellis furnished about 

It is obvious how exceedingly brief the settlements, and how 
unstable the condition, of the ministry during the last half century. 
The ordination of a Pastor is but rarely mentioned in the history of 
these churches during that period. Every Pastor of the Second 
Congregational Church, since its formation, has been installed into his 
office, having been previously settled elsewhere. The churches in 
Medfield do not present exceptional cases in this matter; and the 
fact proves how great a change has taken place in the ecclesiastical 
relations and in the religious sentiments of the community. 



63 

FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

The need of a well-organized Public Library, fully adapted to the 
growing wants of intelligent minds, had been long felt and remarked 
upon in the community. In view of the erection of a spacious and 
elegant Town Hall, the subject became more generally rgitated, and 
awakened more intense interest and activity. Preparations were made 
by the ladies for a public Fair upon a large and generous plan, — the 
proceeds of which should be appropriated to the establishment of a 
library ; and the sum of |8oo was obtained as the result of their exer- 
tions, A meeting of the citizens was held November 5, 1872, at which 
it was voted that a room in the Town Hall should be set apart and 
suitably furnished for the acccmmodation of a Public Library, A 
Poard of Trustees was elected to manage and control said Library and 
all property belonging to it ; to receive all gifts and bequests in aid of 
it, in trust for the town, and to allow the use and enjoyment of it to 
all the inhabitants of the town, under such rules, regulations and 
restrictions as said Trustees shall from time to time make concerning 
it. Whereupon, Deacon George Cummings, with characteristic liber- 
ality, offered to give f 500 in aid of the Library, as soon as it should 
be established ; and also $i,coo, in addition, as soon as an equal sum 
should be made up by the citizens, for the like purpose. This offer 
was accepted, and a room was at once set apart and prepared for the 
accommodation of the Library. Deacon Cumimings then proposed to 
enlarge his previous contribution of ^500, by adding ^300, in order to 
make it equal to the proceeds of the Fair. A committee w-as chosen 
to select and purchase books. Miss Mary A. Sewall was appointed 
Librarian. And on the 29th of March, 1873, the Library — consisting 
of two thousand volumes-^ was opened to the public, under suitable 
regulations. Pooks are taken and exchanged on the afternoon of 
Wednesday and the evening of Saturday, in each week. 

We regard this Institution as of incalculable importance and worth 
to the community; and esteem it highly creditable to the taste and 
intelligence of the citizens, that it is so well appreciated and con- 
stantly used. * 

* This Library was mostly destroyed by fire on the morning of January 8, 1874, since 
which time it has been partially replenished. 



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